Selena’s killer Yolanda Saldivar really is mounting new legal effort for early release

Tejano star Selena, left, watches as Yolanda Saldivar speaks to a crowd at a post-1994 Tejano Music Awards party in San Antonio, Texas.

Tejano star Selena, left, watches as Yolanda Saldivar speaks to a crowd at a post-1994 Tejano Music Awards party in San Antonio, Texas.

Photo: AP1994

Photo: AP1994

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Tejano star Selena, left, watches as Yolanda Saldivar speaks to a crowd at a post-1994 Tejano Music Awards party in San Antonio, Texas.

Tejano star Selena, left, watches as Yolanda Saldivar speaks to a crowd at a post-1994 Tejano Music Awards party in San Antonio, Texas.

Photo: AP1994

Selena’s killer Yolanda Saldivar really is mounting new legal effort for early release

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SAN ANTONIO — While the reports of Selena’s murderer Yolanda Saldivar getting out of prison early have been greatly exaggerated, she’s certainly trying her best to be released more than a decade before she’s eligible for parole.

Kiii-TV in Corpus Christi, where Selena is buried, reported Tuesday that Saldivar is mounting a new legal effort to get an early release from prison, following numerous appeals in her case.

Fake news site National Report earlier Tuesday had the Selena faithful losing their minds on social media with a story that announced that Saldivar could leave the prison as early as Jan. 1 due to “failing health and recent legal modifications.”

Details from that report are false, but news of Saldivar’s legal action is likely to make the hearts of every Selena lover to go Bidi Bidi Bom Bom in all the wrong ways.

Carlos Valdez, who prosecuted Saldivar in the death of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, told the South Texas television station, that “(Saldivar is) saying that the defense council failed or refused to interview witnesses and introduce any exculpatory physical evidence” into her case.

Valdez added that Saldivar is representing herself in these new proceedings, without the help of an attorney. No court dates have been set as of right now.

Abraham Quintanilla, Selena’s father, told Kiii-TV that he doesn’t care about the outcome of Saldivar’s efforts because “nothing’s going to bring my daughter back to life.” He said he believes that Saldivar is safer in prison because “not many people like her.”

Calls to the Nueces County District Attorney Mark Skurka's office and Valdez were not immediately returned.

Saldivar will be eligible for parole in 2025, 30 years after Selena was killed.

Saldivar shot and killed Selena on March 31, 1995 outside a Corpus Christi hotel and currently sits at the Mountain View Unit prison in Gatesville.

Saldivar has said that she received ineffective counsel during her trial, which was moved from Corpus Christi to Houston after Saldivar’s lawyers successfully argued that she would not receive a fair trial in Selena’s hometown.

Her late defense attorney, Douglas Tinker, allegedly failed to bring key witnesses to the stand and that documents in her case have been lost, according to Kiii-TV.